The Feeding-swallowing Impact Survey: Reference Values from a UK Sample of Parents of Children Without a Known or...

The feeding swallowing impact survey (FS-IS) is an 18-question, 3 subscale, validated tool measuring parent/caregiver impact of children's eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties. This study aimed to establish reference values from parents of children without known or suspected paediatric feeding disorder for the FS-IS. Parents of children aged 6 months-11 years were invited to complete an anonymous, online questionnaire. The Pedi-EAT-10 was used to screen for pediatric feeding disorder. For the FS-IS average and cumulative scores were calculated for the whole scale and subscales. Percentile rankings were calculated for the cumulative whole scale score. The relationship between variables was explored using Spearman's correlation and 75th centile quantile regression. The final sample consisted of 904 parents. Median (IQR) whole scale score was 1.11 (1.06, 1.22), from a possible range of 1-5.. Percentile rank scores were: 5th = 18, 25th = 19, 50th percentile = 20, 75th = 22 and 95th = 29, from a possible range of 18-70. Parent perception of a feeding difficulty was the factor associated with greatest score increase. These data provide UK reference data for the FS-IS, facilitating its use in the evaluation of parental impact of feeding difficulties, a key component of holistic, family-centred care. Feeding-related QOL is largely unaffected in caregivers of children without a diagnosed or suspected pediatric feeding disorder.